Sharing links to Autistic Voices, Parent Voices, and other Perspectives on the Spectrum – working to build bridges to understanding and acceptance on behalf of family, friends and those among us who face challenges every day.

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Things I Was Told Were Personal Failings But Were Actually Autism

The original edition of this post was written for Tumblr last August. Until my post on “ASL for Autistic Adults in Tight Spots” (see previous post), it was my most-Tumblr’d piece.

This edition is updated to reflect the intervening gain in self-knowledge &etc.

An incomplete list of things I have been told all my life are personal failings and/or signs of immaturity that I would eventually “grow out of,” but that actually turned out to be my autism.

1. Not being able to remember faces. Even if I have seen them many times before. I have actually failed to recognize members of my own family when I have run into them in unexpected situations (grocery stores, movie theatres). I now alert my students at the start of every semester: even if I manage to match names and faces inside the classroom, I will probably fail to recognize them entirely…